Milk and Dairy Products as Functional Foods

Book excerpt: There continues to be strong interest within the food industry in developing new products which offer functional health benefits to the consumer. The premium prices that can be charged make these added-value products lucrative for manufacturers, and they are also commercially popular. Dairy foods are central to this sector: they are good delivery systems for functional foods (yoghurts, milk drinks, spreads) and are also rich in compounds which can be extracted and used as functional ingredients in other food types. Milk and Dairy Products as Functional Foods draws together a wealth of information regarding the functional health benefits of milk and dairy products. It examines the physiological role and the claimed health effects of dairy constituents such as proteins, bioactive peptides, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), omega 3 fatty acids vitamin D and calcium. These constituents have been shown to be, for example, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, hypocholesterolemic, immune-modulating and antimicrobial. This book examines the evidence for these claims, and investigates practical approaches for utilising these attributes. The book is aimed at dairy scientists and technologists in industry and academia, general food scientists and technologists, microbiologists and nutritionists together with all those involved in the formulation and production of functional food products.